Worldwide SF LibrariesUC Riverside's Eaton Collection: Its collection of fannish memorabilia includes the Pelz and the Patten collections. You may request copies and/or scans of items in their collection. Email
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Efanzines : Marty Cantor describes this website as "One of the best links to much of traditional fandom is www.efanzines.com . Sure, if one does not scroll down very far, one would think that it is just fanzines (in pdf and html format). But scroll down to the bottom half oand you will find material of historical interest (such as photographs from earlier Worldcons, and trip reports), and scads of special publications. There are links to hundreds of fanzines at other sites and links to lots of other fannish resources, information about fan funds, and links to other sites of fan interest."

The Hugo Awards are the International Fantasy Awards, named after Hugo Gernsback by analogy with the Oscars, Emmys, etc. The nominees are selected by polling members of the Worldcon, and the winners are selected by a later vote of Worldcon members. They are presented each year at the Worldcon.

The Hugos cover over a dozen categories of fantasy and science fiction, including best books, stories, dramatic works, professional and fan activities. Locus list of Hugo Winners which also links to a list of all Hugo nominees.

The Nebula Awards are given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the two previous years. The Nebulas cover in five different categories: novel, novella, novelette, short story, and script. Locus list of Nebula Awards.

Other Awards

The James Tiptree, Jr. Award for "science fiction or fantasy that explores and expanded the roles of women and men for work by both women and men" is selected by a comittee of judges.

Locus Awards are awarded by an annual poll of readers of Locus Magazine, established in the to provide recommendations and suggestions to Hugo Awards voters. Over the decades the Locus Awards have often drawn more voters than the Hugos and Nebulas combined. In recent years Locus Awards are presented at an annual banquet, and unlike any other award, explicitly honor publishers of winning works with certificates.

Filk : SF fans have been writing songs (sometimes parodies, sometimes to original music) since at least the 1940s, but they didn't start calling them "filksongs" until the early 1950s. That was when Lee Jacobs mistyped "folk" as "filk" in a fanzine article on folk music. Karen Kruse (later Karen Anderson) liked the word and used it to describe the long-standing fannish phenomenon, and the use caught on. See Karen's December, 1955 SAPSzine article on filksongs.

And it's not on the webpage but if you've got Niven's All the Myriad Ways or N-Space ,reread "What Can You Say about Chocolate Covered Manhole Covers," which was loosely based on Tom Digby

Fred Patten "A Chronology of Furry Fandom"Robin Leyden's & Fred Patten's "How Kimba Came to Be". Patten writes: "This article was originally published in 1981, not 1991. Since 1981 it was updated several times with new information and some corrections. The most recent version was published as a booklet with the Kimba DVD Boxed Set from The Right Stuf International." Loscon History Patten writes: "Loscon 31 should be "Escape to L.A." Loscons 33 and 34 do not have the membership / attendance totals. Loscons 33 and 34 do not have the full themes; Exploring the Golden Ages of Science Fiction, and The Dig: Excavating the Worlds of Science Fiction. Info for Loscon 35 and 36 is not added yet." Loscon 33 membership/attendance total was 1136/1084. Loscon 34 membership/attendance total was 1199/1132.

Unlike so-called media conventions, the conventions of what's sometimes called organized [science fiction] fandom are largely run by volunteer effort, with the result usually being a weekend where amateurs and professionals join as panelists (and a number of rooms host competing panels), open discussion plus snacks in the con suite, a dealers room, an art show, nighttime parties in hotel rooms, dances, singing, gaming, and other activities.

Think of a fan-run convention as a family reunion, except that the attendees are related by common interests instead of by genetic ties.

A number of LASFS members belong to SCIFI Inc. (the Southern California Institute for Fan Interests, Inc.), which has put on a number of LA area conventions.

LASFS Conventions

Loscon : An LA area convention held each year on Thanksgiving weekend. Each year has its own name and theme. Loscon History .

Westercon

A major accomplishment of the LASFS in the late 1940s was the creation of the annual West Coast Science Fantasy Conference (Westercon). At this time the only SF conventions were in the New York/Pennsylvania/New Jersey area, plus the annual World Science Fiction Convention which had come to Los Angeles in 1946 but was usually held in a city east of the Mississippi. Two LASFS members, Walter Daugherty and Dave Fox, felt that the fans in Western cities deserved their own annual convention. In 1948 the LASFS started the Westercon in emulation of the Worldcon. Los Angeles-area fans held the first three Westercons until the convention was well-enough established that fan clubs in such cities as San Diego and San Francisco were ready to host it. The Westercon has met in cities ranging from Vancouver, BC to Honolulu, HI to Boise, ID to El Paso, TX.

The Westercon's Bylaws specify the LASFS as the archive of Westercon business and the default administrator in the case of the failure of any individual Westercon (which has never happened). See Westercon to find out when and where this year's and next year's conventions will take place.

Westercon is a registered service mark of LASFS, Inc. It is held every year on a weekend near the 4th of July, in the western part of the United States (as defined in its bylaws).

Corflu: A small informal, single-track convention focused on science fiction fanzine, and held each spring in North America (and once in Britain)

Costume-Con: a national convention for people who delight in creating costumes. The convention has its roots in science fiction and fantasy conventions and historic re-enactment type events, but all forms of costuming are welcome. Each Spring, it's in a different city, run by a different group of fans.

Gallifrey One: a California, February Doctor Who and British media convention

Gaylaxicon the annual international Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror convention for gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, transgendered people and their friends.

Left Coast Crime , an annual mystery convention sponsored by mystery fans, for mystery fans. It is held during the first quarter of the calendar year in Western North America, as defined by the Mountain Time Zone and all time zones westward to Hawaii. The 2010 convention will be in Los Angeles.

Mythcon: Annual national conference of the Mythopoeic Society, held in July or August. Each conference is centered around a theme related to Inklings studies and/or fantastic and mythic literature.

apa-lasfs: a Yahoogroups mailing list. Click to subscribe. Mention your interest in fandom so the manager will know you're not a spammer. Note: There is no legal relationship between this mailing list and the LASFS, but many of the mailing list members are LASFS members.

Silicon Soapware: a monthly personalzine by LASFS member Tom Digby (now living in the Silicon Valley) archives , with subscription instructions at the bottom of each zine, plus ss_talk , a mailing list with most comment chains initially based on the zine and subscription instructions at the bottom of each zine. tor.com, a site for news and discussion of science fiction, fantasy, and all the things that interest SF and fantasy readers. Comment on any post or story—or become a registered user and start your own conversations.

Trufen : a moderated mailing list with a number of oldtimers on it (including people who entered fandom in the 1950s.

The Virtual Fan Lounge was set up as a bimonthly chat on the first and third Saturdays of each month, but is no longer available from Las Vegrants. Anyone have any information on its current whereabouts?

The Voices of Fandom showcases, vintage and newly recorded, audio and video files of fannish interest.

Fannish Discussions - paper

APA-L : Collated every Thursday evening at the start of the LASFS meeting. Go to the APA-L room on the west side of Freehafer Hall (the back building. Newcomers may pick up a free copy on each of their first three meetings. Bring 29 copies of your zine to a LASFS meeting, and you'll get a copy of that night's APA-L. Official Collator:
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LASFAPA : A monthly APA with limited entry. Contact
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for further details.

Planet Lambda: a science fiction club for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and trans-gender people and their friends. Meetings are held monthly at different locations in the greater Los Angeles area. Now a member of the Gaylaxian Science Fiction Society SFPA , the Science Fiction Poetry Association

LASFS Funds : Donations to LASFS are tax-deductible because it's a 501(c)(3) non-profit.
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to donate to one of these (except Pillar Funds)

The Building Fund : This fund pays for all clubhouse-related expenses.

The Century Fund : The purpose of the Century Fund is to provide funds for the expansion of the premises of the LASFS either through the purchase of real estate, purchase of a new clubhouse, or the construction of a new clubhouse. The Century Fund may also be utilized to provide a resource of emergency recover for the LASFS.

A Pillar Fund memorializes a specific dead LASFS member A. Pillar Fund has been set up for Allan Rothstein.